Samsung's new dock will turn your smartphone into a full-blown laptop

Remember Asus' crazy Transformer Book V? It lets you slide a smartphone into a combination screen/keyboard dock, essentially turning it into a fully functioning laptop. And now it looks like Samsung's working on its very own kooky hybrid.

A new patent filed by the South Korean tech giant shows off a device that looks like a regular laptop, bar a large docking area between the screen and keyboard.

If the device ever comes into fruition, that's the area in which you'll be slotting in your Samsung phablet, transforming it into a proper workstation. The laptop dock itself is dumb, in the sense that all the brains and processing power will be supplied by the smartphone's internals.

Interestingly, the handset itself runs Android as normal, and automatically switches to Windows once dock, serving up full-fat Windows apps and software.

Once docked, the phone's touchscreen can also double up as the laptop's trackpad, albeit in an odd location situated behind the keyboard itself.

Considering that Asus' offering has yet to hit shelves, Samsung's own take on a do-it-all device might never see the light of day. If it does, rest assured that we'll put it through its many-talented paces.